Meditation

2026, May, Issue 200

Now, here you are,

Aspiring to Awaken,

Here you are

with that supreme encounter

with enlightenment mind itself,

Now what?

You go from here to there,

getting distracted by life,

getting embroiled by life’s battles,

life’s futility,

all the things in life that won’t help you at all,

There you go!

You’ve neglected yourself once again!

forgetting why you made this aspiration,

forgetting all about enlightenment mind,

chasing phantasms and nonsense;

Meditation must be placed above nonsense,

At the very least, the very least,

Meditation must occupy some time

in your busy life, some time,

more time when you remember,

when you see the necessity,

more time than that!

When you see the urgency,

this great urgency of awakening,

when you finally understand

what is most precious,

when you start to get into that

knowledge of what is most supreme;

Here you are,

sitting on a meditation cushion

looking at your phone

or gazing out the window,

with distractions in every direction

just begging you to stop waking up,

begging you to make some use of yourself,

begging you to go back

to your agitated misery and angst;

Have some pity on yourself

by utilizing this precious human life

in the best way possible!

Gather every opportunity,

every meditation practice,

all techniques possible,

all that you can;

See Spiritual Friends,

Teachers who can help;

Look within, apply

all that you learn

as you gaze at mind,

as you gaze at mind, as you

see this reflection

of reality upon cool clear waters,

as the reflection and the object

merge into wisdom beyond belief;

Evolve!

Remain at ease!!

Look within!!!

Awaken!!!!

A poem by Robert Aho © 2026

Without the Aspiration to Awaken, there is little benefit to meditation. It’s not about peace or escape. With meditation, we look at mind in order to awaken. The reason for making this commitment can be many things; however, chief among this is a simple notion of seeing that things aren’t really working out very well for you in general, that you can’t remain chained to this eternal suffering, this eternal cycle where we are reborn, get sick, old and die, then repeat. This simple observation requires us to slow down enough to see just what is going on here. When we become aware of the futility that is life, then we need to know what to do about it. We mustn’t be hasty about what to do next, it requires very kind actions on our part.

We start investigating just what is happening here in our life. This will lead us to meditation, because we will want to know more. Gazing at mind, we start to acquire wisdom. To meditate without understanding that wisdom is being revealed is to miss the point of it. It’s not about peace, it’s about removing obstacles that have been preventing us from realizing what we need.

We might experience a moment of peace when we meditate; however, life soon overwhelms us and we are rather likely to treat our time in meditation the same way we treat our membership to a gym or our New Year’s resolutions, procrastinating, forgetting to put that to good use, getting easily distracted and embroiled with emotional nonsense, etc. Meditation must be supported by a strong Aspiration to Awaken, or there is no point to it at all. Meditation is about remaining committed to awakening. It is about developing something indestructible that will actually help us, and all beings, for that matter.

Meditation has three parts: 1) Intention, 2) the Spiritual Practice, 3) Dedication of Merit. This is very important to keep in mind when we meditate. This seals our actions, creating good karma and lasting benefit. It helps us to make progress.

With intention, we might say or think a short prayer or mantra, something like, “May all beings benefit from my Spiritual Practice today. May all beings awaken!” It doesn’t need to be elaborate. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best thing that you can do.

The body of the Spiritual Practice can be simply sitting still, listening to breath, or it can be various elaborate mantras and recitations. It depends upon you, what it is that you need. An efficient Spiritual Practice goes right to the core issues, such as purification or transformation, or foundational issues that support your practice, such as Peaceful Abiding. It can be very simple, or many practices. This depends upon you, just what it is that you need at the moment. It’s good to adapt and to change your Spiritual Practice as needed. Success is measured by how much your heart and mind open, not by intellectual endeavors. Practice what you need in order to awaken.

The dedication of merit is very similar to the intention. You are basically acknowledging that you did a Spiritual Practice in order to bring benefit, either to yourself or to all sentient beings. This increases good karma, which helps to move things along without regret. Our Spiritual Practice needs the support of our own dedication and genuine intention. In this way we can develop confidence in how we change the world. It is a reminder that what we are doing in life has benefit to all. It helps us see the vital necessity of Awakening.

Blessings of Source,

Rigdzin Robert Aho

Robert Aho is the author of Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes. Both books, written after his death experience, give advanced spiritual advice regarding the complete Spiritual Path, inspiration for living each day and words of encouragement, with the intention of helping people to stay committed to their Spiritual Path, as well as preparing for death. This ultimately leads to discovering your own power within, which leads to Awakening. Both books are available on Amazon, Zenith Bookstore, as well as various other sources.